Hamilton keeps McLaren ahead in Chinese FP2

Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets in Friday Practice 2 in China, to keep McLaren on top of both sessions. Nico Rosberg got another good pratice session in to finish second, while Jenson Button was third.

Hamilton’s fastest lap of 1.35.217 was 1.4 seconds faster than the fastest lap of FP1. Rosberg was two tenths behind Lewis, with Button another tenth back. Michael Schumacher got another strong session in to get fourth, while Sebastian Vettel was fifth.

Mark Webber was sixth, followed by Adrian Sutil, Jaime Alguersuari, Robert Kubica, and Fernando Alonso. It was another good day for Alguersuari, who has got 11th and 8th so far today. He also set the most laps (43) in FP2. While Alonso had a lot of work to do after missing FP1 after an engine falure, this session was mostly to test Ferrari’s new F-duct system. Early data suggests the Ferrari is now only 1km/h slower than the McLarens on the main straight.

Vitantonio Liuzzi got his car back from Paul di Resta this afternoon, but only got 16th place, one less than what Di Resta achieved. Liuzzi was also slower, being 2.5 seconds off Hamilton’s pace.

Sebastien Buemi didn’t get a single lap in, as the team fixed the car’s suspension after his massive accident in FP1.

There was a surprise at the back of the grid, as a HRT beat one of the Virgins in practice. Karun Chandhok lapped Shanghai one tenth quicker than Lucas di Grassi, which was a nice boost for the HRT team. Bruno Senna filled the back of the grid, 6 seconds behind Hamilton.

Heikki Kovalainen was the only person who suffered a problem this session. His car came to a halt while on track, after the car had completed 30 laps, so there wasn’t too much damage his weekend setup.